Venue
Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado, United States
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Telluride Bluegrass Festival guide
String bands in a Colorado box canyon.
In short
Bluegrass and acoustic fans can spend Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 June 2027 on the lawn in Town Park for the 54th Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Every act plays one stage, so the crowd shares the day together. The bill reaches beyond traditional pickers, and tickets go on sale early, so secure passes and lodging well ahead.
The Telluride Bluegrass Festival is a four-day gathering of string-band music on a single stage in Town Park, at the foot of a mountain box canyon in southwest Colorado. It has run since 1974, and many of the people on the lawn have been coming back every June for decades.
The music is broader than the name suggests. Acts as different as Tenacious D and Yonder Mountain String Band have shared the bill with traditional pickers, and a house band of acoustic heavyweights holds the weekend together. Because every act plays the same stage, the audience spends the day together on the lawn.
Part of the appeal is the setting itself: a former mining town at close to 9,000 feet, ringed by peaks, where the whole place gives itself over to the festival for a long weekend.
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Key Facts & Stats:
Ends: Sunday, 20 June 2027
Where: Telluride, United States
Venue: Town Park
Held: Every year
Type of event: Musical Events, Folk Festival
Currency: US dollar (USD, $)
Time zone: Mountain Time (UTC-7, UTC-6 in summer)
Language: English (Spanish widely spoken)
Map
Getting around
Hotels near the venue fill up around the event dates.
Tarp and chair rules in Town Park
All seating is general admission on the grass. Tarps can be up to 10x10, and once laid they mark your group's patch for the day. Each person may bring one chair. Low-back chairs belong in front of the sound booth and high-back chairs behind it, while shade tents and umbrellas are only allowed along the back fence so they do not block anyone's view.
Chairs left empty for long are moved to the Warming Hut. If someone sits on your empty tarp while you are at the beer stand, the friendly convention is to let them stay until you get back. Group tarps are often stitched together with tape as friends arrive.
How the morning line for tarp placement works
You must stand in the line yourself; an empty chair or a bag does not hold a spot. Each number covers one person and one tarp. Short breaks for the toilet or coffee are tolerated, but leaving for longer forfeits your place. Tents, cooking and sleeping bags laid out as camps are not allowed in the queue.
The run itself is fast and occasionally rough. Do not overshoot your target, throw the tarp just short of the people ahead and pin the corners at once, because the runners behind arrive seconds later.
Packing for sun, rain and cold at altitude
The festival goes ahead rain or shine, and a single day can bring strong sun, wind, rain and hail. Pack layers: a warm jacket and hat for the evening, a rain shell, sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat for the afternoon. Drink water steadily through the day.
- Bring your own food and soft drinks in suitable containers.
- No glass and no outside alcohol.
- Beer, wine and cocktails are sold inside; carry photo ID.
- Video cameras, frisbees and pets (except service animals) are not allowed.
Camping passes and fire rules
Everyone aged 13 or over needs their own camping pass. Wood fires are banned, including smokeless fire pits; propane fire pits are fine under constant adult supervision. Generators are discouraged, so use battery packs for any medical equipment that runs overnight. Pets are not allowed in campgrounds, parking lots or vehicles. Pack up in good time on Monday, because the campgrounds close at noon.
What happens on the day
- Wednesday before
The lawn queue
Nobody may queue before 5am on the Wednesday ahead of opening day; numbers are handed out early.
- Morning
Gates open
In past years at 10am on Thursday and Sunday, an hour earlier on Friday and Saturday, with bagpipes before the gates open.
- About 10am to dusk
Main stage
Acts follow one another without overlap, so your spot on the lawn stays useful all day.
- After dark
The stage crowd
The area near the stage fills up.
- Late night
NightGrass
A separate programme of late shows for night owls.
Buying passes and campsites when sales open in December
Planning starts in winter. Tickets for the 2027 festival go on sale on Thursday 10 December at 10am Mountain Time through the Planet Bluegrass shop, and some pass types sell out fast. Town Park holds 12,000 people a day, and the town itself is small, so settle on four days or one well before December.
Where you sleep matters more here than at most festivals. Planet Bluegrass operates six places to pitch a tent. Four of them (Mary E Ilium, Warner Field, Town Park itself and the glamping site at Lawson Hill) come bundled with a 4-day pass, while the Lawson Hill tent and vehicle sites need a festival pass bought separately. Camping in Town Park puts you a short stroll from the stage. Lawson Hill sits outside town, linked by festival shuttles that run from 7am until 3am.
Hotels and rentals in Telluride and Mountain Village go quickly for festival week. Mountain Village is the easier bet if the town is full, since the free gondola drops you in Telluride. Book flights and a car together, because the closest airports are small and seats on festival dates are limited. Use our United States travel guide to fold Telluride into a longer trip through Colorado.
Telluride's mining past and the festival's beginnings
Telluride was a mining camp, founded in 1878 in a box canyon of the San Juan Mountains, and it still has the feel of a town hemmed in by peaks. Bridal Veil Falls hangs at the head of the valley. In 1889 Butch Cassidy held up the town's San Miguel Valley Bank.
Its own beginnings were modest. A local band, the Fall Creek Boys, played a Fourth of July party in 1973, and a year later its members started a bluegrass festival that drew around 1,000 people. The stage still sits on its original spot in Town Park. Planet Bluegrass runs it now, and the regulars who return every June call themselves Festivarians.
Over five decades the bill has stretched well past traditional bluegrass. Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Alison Krauss and Union Station have all played. Sam Bush leads a house band whose other members are Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Bryan Sutton and Stuart Duncan, and they anchor the weekend. The Band Contest is a serious stepping stone. Twelve bands compete, four reach the main stage, and past winners include the Dixie Chicks in 1990 and Greensky Bluegrass in 2006. Elks' Park hosts the workshop programme, a good break from the lawn.
Getting there
Flying in
Telluride Regional Airport sits about five miles from town at 9,070 feet, with a handful of direct flights. Montrose, about 90 minutes' drive away, is the usual alternative; Cortez, Durango, Grand Junction and Denver also work. Telluride Express runs ground transport from the airports.
Driving
Around 7 hours from Denver, 9 from Phoenix and 5 from Albuquerque. Check for roadworks on US Highway 50 between Gunnison and Montrose.
The gondola
The free gondola from Mountain Village crosses the ridge into Telluride in about 15 minutes; Town Park is about five blocks from the station.
In town
The free Galloping Goose bus loops the streets, and campground shuttles serve Lawson Hill.
Where to stay during the festival
The next edition runs from 17 June to 20 June 2027. Book your room as soon as your dates are fixed, since rooms close to the festival are the first to go.
Weather and what to pack
Telluride sits at about 8,750 feet (2,670 m), and June weather swings hard. Average highs are about 72°F (22°C) and lows about 34°F (1°C), close to freezing; the warmest afternoon of the month usually reaches about 82°F (28°C), and a trace of snow is possible (1991-2020 normals).
The sun is fierce at this altitude, so the lawn needs sun protection as much as rain gear.
Worth packing
- A rain shell and a warm layer for cold nights
- Sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses
- A tarp and low chair for the lawn
- A refillable water bottle (altitude dehydrates fast)
Car hire in Telluride
Airport transfer to Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Met at arrivals and driven door to door to Town Park.
Restaurants and food in United States
Places to eat in United States before or after the celebrations.
Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States
Cuisine:SeafoodAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Bar
Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
Cuisine:ModernistAmerican
- Dine-in
- Counter seating
Franklin Barbecue
900 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78702, United States
Cuisine:Texas barbecueAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
Commander's Palace
1403 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States
Cuisine:CreoleNew Orleans
- Dine-in
Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Cuisine:Jewish deliAmerican
- Dine-in
- Takeaway
- Counter seating
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General
Yes, both are allowed, and a wagon is the easiest way to haul a tarp, chairs, cooler bag and layers from the gondola or campground to your spot on the lawn.
Yes. Food and non-alcoholic drinks are allowed in suitable containers, which makes a picnic on the tarp the normal way to eat. Glass and outside alcohol stay outside the gates.
Day visitors can park for free in Mountain Village from the Wednesday before the festival through Sunday, then ride the gondola into town. Hotel guests should check parking with their hotel first.
During the festival the gondola between Telluride and Mountain Village stops at 2 am. If you are staying up the hill, time the end of your night around that last car.
No. Many people simply arrive later in the morning and find space further back, and some unclaimed patches usually remain. Standing areas near the front, on either side of the stage, are another option for people without a tarp.
Capacity has been set at 12,000 per day, or 48,000 attendances across the four days, since at least 2013. The first festival drew about 1,000.
Not on public streets or in public lots in Telluride, Mountain Village or Lawson Hill. Book a campground with a vehicle pass if you plan to sleep in a van or camper.
A competition for up-and-coming groups. Twelve bands are given slots, judges score them, and the best four go on to play the main stage. Several winners went on to national careers.
Yes. The Festivarian App, on the Apple App Store and Google Play, carries the lineup and schedules. Download it at home before you set off.
Families & accessibility
Kids aged 12 and under get in free, for both the festival and camping, when they are with an adult who holds a ticket. From 13 upwards they need their own pass.
Timing & weather
All festival campgrounds shut at noon on the Monday after the music ends. Shuttles keep running that morning until 2pm to help campers with their gear.
Cancellations & changes
No. The organisers state that the show goes on whatever the weather, so pack a rain shell and a warm layer and expect to sit through the odd shower.